Wild About Utah

June 11, 2010March 4, 2026

Gardening for Bees

Three years ago, the United States Senate unanimously designated National Pollinator Week. This year it falls from June 21 to 27. Pollination is vitally important for many domesticated and wild plants. By far the most important pollinators are bees and Utah is home to 900 species. Bees pollinate food crops such as apples, cherries, apricots, squashes, raspberries and cucumbers. Bees are also essential to pollinate most wildflowers in our native plant communities.Gardening for Bees

Happily, few of our native bees have much venom or any inclination to sting; in part because they are solitary nesters. In contrast, honeybees and bumblebees are social and in defense of home will deliver memorable stings.

All bees visit flowers to sup nectar for energy. Females also collect protein-rich pollen to feed their offspring. Grain and hay fields, pavement and buildings have all displaced native plant communities, but our flower gardens can become valuable cafeterias for local bee populations. Because bees find their favorite flowers by their color or scent, a bee garden can also appeal to people.

Click to view a larger picture; Anthidium Bee on Lavender courtesy and copyright 2010 Jim Cane — Anthidium Bee on Lavender
Courtesy of and
Copyright © 2010 Jim Cane

Different bees prefer different kinds of flowers. Many bees are attracted to members of the pea family, such as vetches, clovers and locoweeds. Bees appreciate sunflowers and their kin as well as lavender and many other herbs. On the other hand, some plants have been so altered by plant breeders that they no longer feed bees. Examples include doubled flowers like marigolds, flowers with ruffles like petunias and some other common bedding plants.

Please consider our important pollinators when you are choosing what to plant in your garden. You will be rewarded by increased fruit and vegetable yields while surrounded by beautiful blooms.

This is Linda Kervin for Bridgerland Audubon Society.
Credits:
Photos: Courtesy and Copyright 2010 Jim Cane and Linda Kervin
Text: Jim Cane and Linda Kervin, Bridgerland Audubon Society

Click to view a larger picture; Male Melissodes bees sleeping on a sunflower courtesy and copyright 2010 Jim Cane — Male Melissodes Bees
Sleeping on Sunflower
Courtesy of and
Copyright © 2010 Jim Cane

Additional Reading:

https://www.nbii.gov/portal/server.pt?open=512&objID=222&mode=2&in_hi_userid=2&cached=true

https://www.ars.usda.gov/main/site_main.htm?modecode=54-28-05-00

https://extension.usu.edu/htm/publications/publication=10414

Crop domestication facilitated rapid geographical expansion of a specialist pollinator, the squash bee Peponapis pruinosa, Margarita M. López-Uribe, James H. Cane, Robert L. Minckley, Bryan N. Danforth
Proc. R. Soc. B 2016 283 20160443; DOI: 10.1098/rspb.2016.0443. Published 22 June 2016https://rspb.royalsocietypublishing.org/content/283/1833/20160443.abstract

Bumblebee Watch, https://www.bumblebeewatch.org/
Bumble Bee Watch is a citizen science project through the partnership of The Xerces Society, the University of Ottawa, Wildlife Preservation Canada, BeeSpotter, The Natural History Museum, London, and the Montreal Insectarium.

Koch, Jonathan, Strange, James, Silliams, Paul, Bumble Bees of the Western United States, Pollinator Partnership, 2012, https://www.xerces.org/publications/identification-monitoring-guides/bumble-bees-of-western-united-states
Original https://www.pollinator.org/pollinator.org/assets/generalFiles/BumbleBee.GuideWestern.FINAL.pdf

June 3, 2010January 31, 2026

Western Tanager

Hi, I’m Holly Strand from Stokes Nature Center in beautiful Logan Canyon.

An exotic-looking bird is making quite a splash this year in Cache Valley. The dazzling plumage of the western tanager creates animated flashes of color in the spring foliage. Catching sight of the brilliant red head and bright yellow body, with contrasting black back, wings and tail some people can’t help but wonder: “Is that a parrot?”

Every spring western tanagers arrive in a migration wave that originates in Central America. But the birds don’t stay with us for very long. Low elevations in Utah represent stopover sites not destinations. The birds are headed for their breeding habitat which is open forests of Douglas fir, spruce and pine to our north and at higher elevations. Migrating at night, the tanagers appear as if by magic one morning, They refuel a bit and then they are off again without much fanfare. Some years I don’t even notice them coming through at all.

But this year, the tanagers aren’t leaving. In fact they seem to be multiplying! So what’s going on?

I spoke with Frank Howe, an avian ecology specialist with the Utah Division of Wildlife Resources. He says the reason we have so many tanagers is the wacky spring weather. The western tanager breeding grounds are still too wintery for these tropical migrants. Therefore, the tanagers are just waiting it out, refueling on high energy insects in Cache Valley as well as other locations along the Wasatch Front. Meanwhile, new birds keep arriving so the tanagers just keep stacking up. Just imagine an airport where flights can arrive, but none can take off.

Very territorial during the breeding season, the western tanager seems quite relaxed and even social during its delay. Which is more than you can say for most human travelers with an unexpected layover. This week, I’ve seen 3 affable males perched close on a suet feeder hanging in our yard.

So let’s assume a prolonged warm spell does finally arrive. ( I know this is a stretch of the imagination for many of us in Northern Utah). But it will happen. And then one bright morning we’ll wake up to find our colorful visitors gone without a trace –having left in the night for their true destination.

Thanks to the Marie Eccles Caine Foundation –the Russell Family for supporting Stokes Nature Center programs.

For Wild About Utah and Stokes Nature Center, I’m Holly Strand.
Credits:
Images: Courtesy & Copyright 2010 Michael Fish
Text: Holly Strand, Stokes Nature Center
Sources & Additional Reading:

What Bird.com, Field Guide to Birds of North America, https://identify.whatbird.com/obj/196/_/Western_Tanager.aspx

Western Tanager, All About Birds, Cornell Lab of Ornithology, https://www.allaboutbirds.org/guide/Western_Tanager/id

Western Tanager, Piranga ludoviciana, Utah Conservation Data Center, Utah Division of Wildlife Resources, https://dwrcdc.nr.utah.gov/rsgis2/search/display.asp?flnm=piraludo

May 27, 2010May 2, 2016

Utah’s Desert Fox

Kit Fox, click to view larger image, Photo Courtesy and Copyright © 2009 Bryan Kluever, graduate research assistant, Utah State University Department of Wildland Resources — PhD student Bryan Klueve
with an adult kit fox
that was captured
with a box trap.
Kit foxes are weighed,
fitted with a radio collar,
and then released
Courtesy & Copyright © 2010
Bryan Kluever
Graduate Research Assistant
Utah State University
Dept of Wildland Resources

Hi, I’m Holly Strand from Stokes Nature Center in beautiful Logan Canyon.

The kit fox just might be Utah’s cutest mammal. Weighing in at four to five pounds or so, the kit fox is about a third of the size of the more common red fox.. The kit fox has delicate cat- like features and it has comically large, furry ears. It’s desert-colored coat is tinged with rusty orange finishing in a long black-tipped bushy tail.

The kit fox is the only desert dwelling fox in North America. In Utah, you’ll find it mostly in the western part of the state, where it lives off field mice and jackrabbits as well as insects, birds, amphibians and fish.

The kit fox has evolved a number of adaptations to deal with the desert’s harsh conditions.. First of all those big ears aren’t just for looks. They help the kit fox dissipate body heat through evaporative cooling.

Secondly, kit foxes are nocturnal, avoiding the high temperatures of the daytime hours. During the day they lounge in subterranean dens.

Kit fox legs are relatively short for a fox. That helps them zig-zag through the brush when chasing prey or being chased. And the pads of their paws are furry which gives them better traction in the sandy soil of desert habitats.

Long droughts are common in desert environments and kit foxes have developed ways to deal with them. During a drought, fewer vixens breed and litters become smaller. Kit fox families maintain large territories—larger than necessary for normal years. So when a drought hits, and the population of prey species plummets, the foxes have a larger area in which to hunt.

Kit foxes get top marks in water conservation. Little goes in and little comes out.. A kit fox can exist for many months without ever drinking water. Instead, the fox can draw water from the food that it eats. And that water is used with great efficiency. Little is lost through metabolic processes such as urination, defecation breathing and panting.

Too see pictures of the diminitive kit fox, go to www.wildaboututah.org

Thanks to Brian Kleuwer and Mary-Ann Muffoletto of Utah State University’s College of Natural Resources for supporting this Wild about Utah topic.

For Wild About Utah and Stokes Nature Center, I’m Holly Strand.
Credits:
Images: Courtesy & Copyright Bryan Kluever, USU Department of Wildland Resources
Text: Mary-Ann Muffoletto, Utah State University College of Natural Resources

Additional Reading:

White, P. J. and K. Ralls. 1993. Reproduction and spacing patterns of kit foxes relative to changing prey availability. Journal of Wildlife Management 57:861–867 The Wildlife Society, https://si-pddr.si.edu/dspace/bitstream/10088/510/1/White1993.pdf

Kit Fox (Vulpes macrotis), Wildlife Notebook Series No. 9, Utah Division of Wildlife Resourceswildlife.utah.gov/publications/pdf/2010_kit_fox.pdf

Kit Fox (Vulpes macrotis), Species Fact Sheets, Utah Conservation Data Center, Utah Division of Wildlife Resources, https://dwrcdc.nr.utah.gov/rsgis2/Search/Display.asp?FlNm=vulpvelo

May 20, 2010November 25, 2020

Morels

The morels are among the most highly prized edible mushrooms in North America. Also called sponge mushrooms, morels have a long list of local names. There is an on-going debate as to how many species of morel are found in North America and what each should be named. Some suggest as few as 3 species, others as many as 50 species. For simplicity, Michael Piep of the Intermountain Herbarium, says 4: white or yellow, half-free, gray and black. All are delicious.

All morels have a cone-shaped, sponge-like head on a lighter colored stem. Appearances can be deceiving … morels are difficult to spot at the best of times, and seem adroit at hiding and camouflage.

“Where does one find Morels?”

This is an interesting question … localities range from under an old apple tree in Taylorsville to pine woodlands high in the canyons. In general, the white/yellow and half-free types tend to occur along streams and rivers most often on sand bars and tend to prefer areas with mature cottonwood trees nearby. Black morels are found at higher elevations typically on north or north-east facing slopes and most frequently under Lodgepole pine, but may be found with other conifer species and even quaking aspen. Gray morels don’t seem to be as choosy, and can be found in both habitat types.

The half-free morels start fruiting first, starting at about the time the buds on the cottonwood trees are about to burst. Yellow/white morels fruit at about the time the apple blossoms show pink; as do the grays. The black morels fruit about the time the aspen leaves are the size of a dime.

Hopefully these rough guidelines will help in your pursuit of the wily morel, and as always … Happy Mushrooming!

This is Linda Kervin for Bridgerland Audubon Society.
Credits:
Photo: Courtesy and Copyright Chris Schnepf, University of Idaho, Bugwood.org
Text: Michael Piep, Intermountain Herbarium, Utah State University

Resources:

Intermountain Herbarium: https://herbarium.usu.edu/
Bridgerland Mushroom Society: https://herbarium.usu.edu/#Bridgerland
Mushroom Society of Utah: https://www.utahmushrooms.com/